A Poor Man's House Part 18

'Casn' thee ask thy maid for some?' d.i.c.k said. I was ashamed, like, but I did.

"'What's thee want it for?" her asked.

"'Tisn' nothing doing down here,' I says, 'an' I wants to go to sea.'

"'I an't got no money,' the maid says.

"'Casn' thee get nort?' I asks, having begun, you see. I'd been goin'

with her for nigh on two years.

"Her cried bitter at the thought o' me going, but her did get seven shillin's from a fellow servant. I told me mother--her cried tu'--an'

off us started, going by train to Bristol and stopping the night at the Sailor's Rest. 'Twasn't bad, you know. They Restis be gude things.

d.i.c.k, he woke in the morning wi' a swelled faace, but I didn' feel nort.

"d.i.c.k Yeo paid both our boat fares from Bristol to Cardiff. The steward--what us urned against aboard ship--recommended us to a lodging house in Adelaide Street, an' he giv'd me a note for a man at the Board o' Trade, sayin' we was Demshire fishin' chaps an' gude seamen.

"Well, us went to the lodging house an' gave in our bags an' took a room wi' fude [food] for two an' six a day--each, mind yu. Then us looked into a big underground room wer there was a lot o' foreigners gathered round a fire an' us didn' much like the looks o' that. So us went straight down to the docks an' tried to ship together on several sailing ships an' steamers. Some on 'em would on'y take me, an' some were down to sail at a future date, like, what our money wouldn't last out tu. _I_ cude ha' got a ship, 'cause I had me Naval Reserve ticket, but n.o.body cuden't du wi' both on us--an' where one went t'other was to go tu, by agreement.

[Sidenote: _AT THE BOARD O' TRADE_]

"Us went back to the lodging house, into a sort o' kitchen in a cellar, where there was a 'Merican wi' a long white beard cooking, an' men drunk spewing, an' men lying about asleep like logs. The 'Merican, his beard looking so red as h.e.l.l in the firelight, wer stirring some kind o' stew. Yu shade ha' see'd the faaces what the glow o' they coals shined on! An' the fude.... An' the tables an' plates.... I've a-gone short many a time in my day, but I'd never ha' touched muck like they offered to gie us there. d.i.c.k an' me crept up the staircase to bed wi'

empty bellies thic night.

"Soon a'ter we was to bed, d.i.c.k says to me: 'Can 'ee feel ort yer Tony?'

"'No,' I says, an' whatever 'twas, I didn' feel ort o'it. But I see'd 'em crawling so thick as sea-lice on the wall in a southerly gale, an'

I tell 'ee, 'twas they things what took the heart out o' me more'n ort else, aye! more'n the food an' being away from home. Us cuden turn out, 'cause the landlord had our bags an' us hadn' got no money to get 'em back wi', nor nowhere else at all to go tu.

"Next morning, us went straight down to the docks again. Cuden' eat no breakfast what they give'd us. Didn' know what to du. I only had tuppence left, which wuden' ha' taken me home again, not if I'd been willing to give up and go. Come to the last, us was forced to break our agreement. I signed on as able seaman--_able_ seaman 'cause I was a fishing chap an' had me Royal Naval Reserve ticket--aboard the _Brooklands_, bound for Bombay. Penny o' me tuppence, I spent writing home to tell mother. I cuden' stay aboard the ship (an' get summut to eat) 'cause I had my gear to get an' a ship to find for d.i.c.k--an' we still had hopes, like, o' getting a ship together. Howsbe-ever, us cuden't, nohow. The writer aboard the _Brooklands_ wuden't advance me no wages to get any gear. He told me the landlord to the lodging house wude, him what had our bags a'ready.

"Then I thought o' the steward's note to the Board o' Trade officer, an' us inquired our way to the Board o' Trade, where ther was a gert crowd outside. 'Twas by that us know'd the place. A man told us as the officer what the note was directed tu, wude appear outside the door an'

call. Sure 'nuff, he did--wi' gold b.u.t.tons on his coat--an' called out: 'Six A.B.'s for the _Asia_'!

"'Who be that?' I asked.

"'That's he,' the man said. 'He'll come out again by'm-bye.'

"Us worked our way to the front--getting cussed horrible for our pains--an' when Mr Gold-b.u.t.tons 'peared again, I give'd him the steward's note. He luked at it--an' us. He cude offer me something an'

said as he'd du his best for me, but he cuden' hold out no promise for d.i.c.k because, see, he hadn' got no Naval Reserve ticket.

[Sidenote: "_WER d.i.c.k GOES, I GOES_"]

"'Wher d.i.c.k goes, I goes,' I says, like that. With which the Board o'

Trade officer leaves us waiting there.

"After an hour or so, he com'd out an' called, as if he hadn' ha'

know'd us: 'Anthony Widger an' Richard Yeo! Richard Yeo an' Anthony Widger o' Seacombe!'

"'Yer we be, sir,' shouts I, thinking we was fixed up.

"'Be yu Anthony Widger an' Richard Yeo? Come in.'

"d.i.c.k, he went in behind the officer, an' me behind d.i.c.k. 'Twer a darkish pa.s.sage, but as the door closed I luked, an' there, hidden behind the door, sort o' flattened against the wall, who did I see but d.i.c.k's mother; her'd come all that way by herself. I called to d.i.c.k.

"'What the b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l be doin' here?' said d.i.c.k swearing awful.

"'Don't thee swear at thy mother, d.i.c.k,' I says.

"'d.i.c.k!' her says, 'd.i.c.k, come home again. Your father's breakin' his heart.'

"'Go to b----ry!' says d.i.c.k, swearing worse'n ever, 'cause _he_ was wanting in his heart to be home again, yu see.

"I burst out crying, then and there, wi' seeing d.i.c.k's mother cry, an'

all o'it what we'd been drough. The Board o' Trade officer repeated as he'd help me an' no doubt find me a ship, but d.i.c.k--his mother was come'd for he.

"'Wer d.i.c.k goes, I goes,' says I.

"Then d.i.c.k's mother, her says: 'Will 'ee come home then, Tony?'

"'Wer d.i.c.k goes, I goes,' I says again. 'Twas fixed in me head, like.

"'Well,' her says, 'if d.i.c.k comes home, will yu come too?'

"I told her: 'I've a-signed on aboard the _Brooklands_, an' I'll hae to tramp it 'cause I an't got no money.'

"'Well, if I pays _your_ fare too?'

"'Wer d.i.c.k goes, I'll go!' I says.

"So her got over d.i.c.k a bit, an' the Board o' Trade man told us to come again, saying as he'd do anything for me, but d.i.c.k's mother was come'd for he. An' Mrs Yeo asked us to go wi' her to a restaurant.... That turned me more'n ort else 'cause us hadn' eaten the stuff to the lodging house an' us _was_ hungry. An' her telegraphed home to d.i.c.k's father for a trap to meet us to Totnes, for 'twas a Sat.u.r.day an' there wern't no trains no nearer home.

"Us went to the station, d.i.c.k swearing awful, an' in the end us come'd to Totnes to find the trap.

"The trap was there at the inn, sure 'nuff, an' the ostler was waiting up, but the man what come'd wi' the trap was disappeared. We on'y found 'en at two in the morning, sleeping dead drunk in the manger, an' then he an' the ostler began fighting on account o' the ostler casting out a slur 'cause d.i.c.k's mother didn' gie him no more than a shilling. A policeman come an' cleared us out o' it!

[Sidenote: _CARRIAGE PEOPLE_]

"Two or dree mile out o' Totnes the horse stops dead an' begins to go back'ards. Us coaxed 'en, like, an' still he kept on stopping an'

walking back'ards. d.i.c.k an' me got out to walk to the halfway inn.

There the landlord wuden' come down for us. But he did when the trap come'd up--us was carriage people than, yu see. We had drinks round, an' us give'd flour an' water to the horse to make 'en go. But us hadn'

gone far when he stopped an' began to go back'ards again. d.i.c.k, he started swearing. 'Let's walk on,' I says, to get 'en out o'it; an' so us did for a mile or so. 'Twas dark, wi' a mizzling rain--an'

quiet--an' the trees like shadows. A proper logie night 'twas. Wude 'ee believe me when I says I cude smell the flowers I cuden' see? Us was glad when a tramp caught up wi' us.

"'Have 'ee see'd ort o' a horse an' trap wi' two persons in 'en?' I askis.

"'Two mile back,' he says.

"'Us lef 'en only a mile back,' d.i.c.k says.